Tuesday, November 1, 2016

October 25 to October 30

Warning---I finally learned how to put pictures on the the blog and there are a few!
On Tuesday we drove to Manhattan Kansas for interviews with our missionaries. I get to visit with each of the elders and sisters before they go in to interview with Mitch. It really is a pleasure to get to know each one of them individually. Here is a picture of the Manhattan Zone.IMG_1083.JPG
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Aren’t they awesome. Half of the zone comes in the morning and the other comes in the afternoon.  There is training going on by the Assistants while each missionary is being interviewed.  Manhattan is the home of KState. It is a beautiful city and here is a picture looking out the front door of the church.
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A typical picture of Kansas.
We left Manhattan and stopped in Ellsworth which is the town in a Rascal Flatts song.  We had dinner at the diner and probably won’t go there again but I got to see the town and that is what I have wanted to do since we have been here.
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Downtown Ellsworth.
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I thought this house in Ellsworth was so cute. The picture just didn’t turn out too good.

We made it that night to Great Bend where we stayed the night.  The next day we drove an hour to Garden City for our next stop of interviews.  Here is our missionaries in the Garden City Zone.
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After interviews we drove about an hour to Dodge City because Mitch had to do a  baptismal interview. The ward there was getting ready for their Trunk or Treat and it was busy with happy kids in costumes. After the interview we drove to Liberal.  It was after 9pm when we got to the hotel and we were both exhausted though Mitch had some correspondence he had to do.  I wrote in my journal and it was lights for me!
Here is the Liberal Zone.
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We got home Thursday night after 9pm again.  The next morning we had our last round of interviews for the Derby Zone but I don’t have the pictures for them.  At 5pm We got to go on our weekly date! Yay!  I do look forward to those especially after a busy week like this one.
Saturday we worked on planning Zone Conference and MLC for next week.  By noon we were on our way to the Salina Stake Conference.  Salina is about an hour and 20 minutes away.  The first meeting was a Priesthood leadership meeting so Michelle Steel and I drove around town and shopped for a little while.  Michelle’s husband, Matt, is Mitch’s 1st counselor in the mission presidency.  They came up from Garden City to be at the conference.  I thought we were speaking Sunday because that is what Mitch told me but I found out that we were speaking at the adult session that night.  Under other circumstances I would have freaked out but I knew what I was going to talk about and it was actually nice to do it then and not have to worry about it all night long. In my talk I said I grew up in Mesa Arizona and I had several people come up to me who were originally from Mesa too.  You talk long enough to anyone in the Church and you can find a connection to someone!  We left the Steels car at the church and they came home with us and stayed the night.  We have become good friends and we had great conversation and taught them how to play skipbo. The next day we drove back for the Sunday session of conference.  The Salina stake is solid with lots of faithful members.  Here is a picture of us with the Steels at the church.
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The Steels left for home after the conference and we came home in time for Mitch to drop me off, have a snack and drive to Ark City, an hour away, for a baptismal interview.  When he got home we had dinner with Sister Poulton, our new mission secretary, and the assistants.  We got to visit for a little after dinner and then we had to head out to the 29th street building, 25 minutes away, for a Mission President’s Devotional.  Mitch spoke about Joseph Smith’s first vision and then we have recent converts bear their testimonies.  These are the best and so filled with the Spirit and happiness for how the Gospel has changed their lives!  We love these devotionals!
That was pretty much our week.  It’s busy but we love it so much!
The Gospel is True!!!